Frustration among teachers’ unions over the Race to the Top reforms is growing, according to an In These Times article by Sam Ross-Brown. Union pushback caused a number of states to forego Round Two of Race to the Top. The piece takes a closer look at the issues as they played out in Minnesota, Colorado, and Texas, as well as how these tensions regarding educational reform could impact broader union political support for President Obama.

Some people are frustrated that the stimulus money isn’t being spent quickly enough. As the Washington Post’s Alec MacGillis writes,  more than half of the $275 billion in stimulus investment money has yet to be spent. Some of that pacing was intentional, but some has been caused by unanticipated delays, such as the well documented weatherization hang-ups over federal wage and historical preservation regulations. One irony of this issue is that, as we’ve previously noted, many people are also worried that the stimulus money has run out too quickly.

That slow stimulus spending has also frustrated some Republicans, who are now calling for the money allocated to infrastructure and other projects to be redirected toward other purposes, Louise Radnofsky reports in the Wall Street Journal. Of the $230 billion for these projects, $182 billion has been awarded, but only $66 billion has been paid out by the government. Though some of the anticipated projects have yet to begin, other projects may be underway and spurring employment, the article notes, even if there is a lag between the funding award and the actual payout.

The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson has a very simple but often overlooked explanation for the seeming delay in getting the dollars out the door. In his post titled, “The Slow Motion Stimulus,” Thompson writes, “The 2009 stimulus was called the "Recovery and Reinvestment" Act, Joseph Szabo from the Federal Railroad Administation once told me, because the money was supposed to go to both shovel-ready projects for a quick recovery and to more long term investments… It's a distinction I understand, but also find frustrating.”

0 comments

Your name: *

E-mail: *

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.

Write a comment...

Your comment will appear after administrative review.

CAPTCHA

This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

What code is in the image?: *

Enter the characters shown in the image.

219 recommendations

Recommend this